This paper investigates the main elements that can influence customer satisfaction in tourist services, with specific reference to tourism industry. The importance of this topic resides in the fact that tourists’ positive experiences of service, products, and other resources provided by tourism destinations can produce customer retention as well as positive word-of-mouth. Indeed, satisfaction with travel experiences contributes to destination loyalty. The degree of tourists’ loyalty to a destination is reflected in their intentions to revisit the destination and in their recommendations to others. Thus, information about tourists’ loyalty is important to destination marketers and managers in order to sustain destination attractiveness. Although predominant literature has adopted a demand-side perspective, this paper analyses tourist satisfaction according to an overlapping perspective that contemplates both the demand and the offer side where this latter, in the wider meaning, also includes the systemic perspective. More precisely, this paper aims to identify the principle competitive strategies that the variety of stakeholders, cooperating together in a destination, has to implement in order to increase tourist satisfaction and loyalty. Indeed, the point of view of this paper is to understand how destination attributes and services affect the tourist satisfaction. In order to study the link between destination attributes and tourist satisfaction, the paper collects cross-sectional data via questionnaire, from May 2012 to May 2013. The adopted approach allows to individuate the factors that can influence tourist satisfaction, their (positive or negative) direction and their magnitude. This paper uses 14 tourist satisfaction indicators in order to measure the global satisfaction. Furthermore, this study allows to identify the current strengths and weaknesses of the tourist offer. In particular, the study paid attention to the phase of service delivery since it is the time when customer satisfaction is generated. From this study, it comes out that tourist satisfaction depends on a complex process where the role of each actor is fundamental and it must be in tune with all the other ones. Findings show that tourists visiting Naples are not completely satisfied, supporting that Naples has not a clear destination image.

I explored the effect of socio-economic status (SES) on mathematics achievement by gender at grades 5 in 2012 and 10 in 2017. Secondary Italian data (30,868 pupils in primary and 38,091 in secondary school) were analysed via the Rasch model to estimate students’ ability in mathematics and then via a three-level regression (students nested into classroom and schools) to estimate SES effect (calculated at individual, classroom and school level) on ability. Data analysis showed positive correlation between SES and ability, and a significant mediating role of gender, in secondary more strongly than in primary school, and a greater effect of classroom and school rather than individual SES on students attending secondary school. In particular, at grade 10, individual SES effect tends to disappear when classroom and school SES are accounted for, suggesting that adolescents are much more prone to the effect of context variables than younger pupils are.

Gender equality has been widely explored, but there is limited research investigating its variability at regional level. This paper aims to fill this gap by developing and validating a new, regional gender gaps index, compatible with previous indices used to compare gender equality across nations but now fit for the purpose of measuring gender equality across regions, within nations. To this end, we (i) reviewed existing indicators of gender equality; (ii) assessed the contribution of the indicators most frequently used in previous research to measure gender equality; (iii) developed an extended, regional version of the gender gaps index (eRGGI), by extending it to include new indicators able to capture female empowerment in developed countries, like Italy; and, (iv) explored the variability of gender equality across Italian regions. In developing our eRGGI, some indicators traditionally used to measure gender equality were removed and others were introduced to capture new dimensions of gender equality to suit modern conditions regarding contexts where equality is considered important, in contemporary Europe. Results showed that gender equality varies dramatically across regions, also confirming the relevance of the new indicators we proposed to add. Such results call for more caution in interpreting results based on nationally aggregated data to inform policy and practice, arguing for regional comparisons to become more prominent.

This paper reports research into the relationship between personal and contextual variables and gendered differences in students’ attainment in mathematics that take account of ‘place’ at different levels of intra-national locality (i.e. regional and macro-geographical levels, within the same country). A multilevel analysis performed on secondary data collected in Italy, where on average boys outperform girls in mathematics, showed that gender differences at local levels are complex and nuanced and not always consistent with the national picture. Moreover, gender differences in mathematics are associated with socio-cultural and economic factors that vary by region. We argue that educational research focusing on national and international level findings (such as for example PISA) should explore the association between gender differences in mathematics and sub-national socio-cultural and economic contexts in order to adequately inform policy and practice. Finally, we suggest that European researchers of inequality may need to attend to regionality and localities of place, and that the principle of subsidiarity could imply that policy and practice be devolved to the levels that research proves to be relevant.

Students’ attainment in mathematics is associated with several personal and contextual factors, but little research has been carried out to explore the intersectionality between them. The current paper aims to fill this gap. Census assessment data collected in Italy at Grade 10 (on average, 15-year-old students) by the Italian national institute for the evaluation of the educational system were analysed via a multilevel regression model to account for data hierarchy (422,865 students in 24,279 classrooms, in 3,950 schools). Census data in educational research allowed exploration of the intersectionality between independent variables at different levels of the model’s hierarchy. Results showed that reading skills mediate the relationship between students’ attainment in mathematics and their gender, citizenship status, and socioeconomic status (SES). Implications for policy and practice are discussed.